Structure and organization of the cardiotoxin genes in Naja naja sputatrix

FEBS Letters

Armugam, Arunmozhiarasi¹  Lachumanan, Ramkumar¹  Tan, Chee-Hong¹ 

[1] Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, National University of Singapore, 10 Kent Ridge Crescent, 119260 Singapore

关键词: Cardiotoxin;    Gene structure;    Multiple isoform;    Naja naja sputatrix;   

DOI  :  10.1016/S0014-5793(98)00894-1

学科分类：生物化学/生物物理

来源: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

【 摘 要 】

We report the genomic structure, organization and the presence of multiple isoforms of the gene encoding cardiotoxins (CTX) of Naja naja sputatrix. The cardiotoxin gene consists of six CTX isoforms, each (2.2 kb) having three exons and two introns. Two possible transcription initiation sites as well as consensus TATA boxes and transcription factor binding motifs, AP-2, NFIL-6/C/EBP, NF-κB and PuF have been identified in the 5′-region of the gene. The CTX gene isoforms show nucleotide variations at specific segments in exon 2 and exon 3, which correspond to the functional domains in the three-finger loop structure of the cardiotoxin molecule. The diverse functions of cardiotoxins together with our findings suggest that the cardiotoxin gene isoforms may have evolved under adaptive pressure through a positive Darwinian selection process.

【 授权许可】

Unknown